Norman Reef - Pontoon siteGreat Barrier Reef: Norman Reef
Initially, our plans were to join Pro-Dive for our liveaboard experience, but the dates that we wanted were fully occupied until early October (no way, we're back in Singapore by then). Because of this, we decided to do the diving with Deep Sea Divers' Den instead on board the Ocean Quest. One difference between the two is that Pro-dive includes Reef Teach in their package - not that big of a difference in price but something which we thought was overlooked by D4. Anyway, we signed for the Reef Teach ourselves and it turned out really great.
Basically self-explanatory in the title, the 2-hour session by Paddy Colwell is a presentation on what we will see in the Reef, the biology/anatomy of the corals, and what to avoid when we're doing it. I thought that this talk should be required for all those who are interested in the sport of snorkelling and scubadiving, as Paddy taught us how to identify certain fishes by their shapes and color, the corals and all. We have to identify the differences between damselfish, surgeonfish, wrasses, triggerfish, butterflyfish and angelfish and how to name the corals - lunar, soft, plate, staghorns, etc. A well-spent AUD$12!
clown fish and sea anemoneWe were picked up at around 7:00am to go to the D4 diveshop to show our certification. Pretty standard for most of the other companies. Anyway, we then headed off to the Pier and to the boat, i.e. SeaQuest. Around 10:00am, reached our dive site at Norman Reef called Sandras. Since this is our 1st dive after our classes, we are kinda blur as to what is going on. Apparently, they'll just provide us with a profile of the dive-site, and that's it. We suited up, wearing 5mm shortie. and after checking our equipment, jumped straight in. Didn't enjoy the dive 'cos I was overweighted, put on 4 x 1.5kg when I usually use 4 kg. Almost impossible to maintain neutral buoyancy to enjoy my dive. Even Shuhui put on too many weights. Only the next dive did we settle down.
white-tipped reef sharkTurned out that we are spending the rest of the 3 days at Norman Reef at various other locations. Not much comments here as they are pretty much the same as with the other reefs that I have been to in Malaysia. The differences: the soft corals here are huge. Almost 3 feet in diameter, I'm not kidding. Also, lots of batfish which will just swim beside you - feels kinda weird since this fish would not even budge a little when you try to touch them. Perhaps they are just too fat to move that fast. Anyway, we saw lots of trout and snappers, giant clams, common reef fishes such as damselfish, wrasses, goatfish, clownfish swimming in anemone, surgeonfish, and triggerfish etc. I think I liked seeing the painted flutemouth tha best. This fish, as the name suggests looks like a long flute, about 1.5 feet long and it just hangs there at a 45-degree angle.
Wally, the Giant Maori Wrasse at Norman ReefThe highlight must be to see "Wally", the affectionately called Giant Maori Wrasse that is about 5 feet long that will swim close to you to be patted. I touched and he's very smooth...interesting experience. Also saw a few stingrays, painted flutemouths, humphead bannerfish, Moorish Idol, Barramundi cod, Emperor and Regal Angelfish, nudibranch, loggerhead turtle, a 4-feet long whitetip shark.
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most recent update: April 5, 2000
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